They're not, kind of, really emotional,
really flawed, rich characters.
They're, you know, (whooshing)
(grunting) 'I'm hard' kind of people.
- Hi, I'm Johnny. - I'm Miranda.
And we were recently really intrigued by an interview with Lucas Hedges
about what it means to be a leading man in Hollywood today,
and how the scope of what it means is really changing.
What is a leading man?
Well, according to the internet right now,
a leading man is someone who is a romantic interest
or someone who's an all-rounder, but is this still true?
What do we think about it?
(laughter) Can we redo that?
I feel like the idea of what people now have as attractive or desirable
is, like, changing, because I think a lot of it in the past
was all these really masculine people who had these big personas
and were very dominant characters. What I think is really interesting
is that now, especially in films and even in real life,
people seem to value emotional journeys
as much as physical ones, if not more.
I mean, yeah.
Yeah, I think that's definitely true.
We've kind of gone into this age where
the lines are blurred at this point.
The internet can't define what a leading man is
because in different contexts,
in different films and for different people, it means different things.
And, I mean, Ian McKellen, we saw him as Gandalf,
everyone sees themselves in different people,
and therefore the leading man is no longer a typecast.
It's anything you want it to be.
I have a hypothetical question for you.
Let's say you have enough money for one cinema ticket
and you know you're going to the cinema with someone.
Do you pick a film to go to, plot completely aside,
based on the actor in it alone?
No, I don't-,
it's difficult because I think I would be influenced
if my favourite actor was in it, I'd be like 'oh',
because I'd probably have heard about it a lot more.
Sometimes it is the case, if there's a bunch of movies
but you know your favourite actor is in one of them
and you think the plots are equally as interesting,
but if I was really disinterested in the plot,
I don't think that would be enough.
No, I agree with you, I definitely wouldn't,
but I know people who, if I said 'Tom Holland's in this new film',
before I've even finished my sentence, they are out the door.
They are running off to the cinema, dust trails behind them,
people screaming in their wake. They are off on a mission.
But for me personally, I don't think that many actors
have that kind of hype around them anymore.
Do you think that an older actor brings with themselves more prestige
and do you think that's important, or do you think
it's more about popularity of an actor?
I think there's still some weight in seeing people like,
maybe like a Hugh Grant or Pierce Brosnan, who we traditionally have-,
many adults especially who have grown up
seeing their films come out in these roles,
but I think that it is becoming less the case
as younger actors get more exposure through people seeing them more
on the internet and stuff like that. It's all about this balance
that, yes, people will still admire older actors,
but I don't think that that will necessarily detract
from them viewing younger actors as leading men.
I think it's not mutually exclusive.
In light of all of this being going on
about emotional strength and all of that,
do you still think that there is a place for those who want
the traditional emotionless hard men roles to keep going?
If you look at Fast & Furious 7, for example,
it's one of the highest grossing films of all time,
and if you look at the male characters in that,
they're not, kind of, really emotional,
really deeply thought out, flawed, rich characters.
They're, you know, (whooshing)
(grunting) 'I'm hard' kind of people, right?
And I think the same with James Bond films, for example.
And while I don't think they have that same,
you know, no depth in character,
I do think that James Bond right now, Daniel Craig's bond,
is a very-, quite tough,
very secret figure that I don't think we know much about,
and I think that is part of the appeal of the film.
While Bond films and also the Fast & Furious style films
aren't really for me, I understand their appeal,
because at the end of the day, a lot of people just want to go,
turn on a film and switch off,
and just see people get angry and fight each other.
I don't think that, like, deep emotional scenes
are always the right thing in a film.
I think it's important to see both sides.
So let's open it up to you guys.
Who do you think is the ideal leading man?
We'll give you a few examples,
comment down below who's your favourite.
Let's start with Ben Whishaw.
Obviously he's Paddington Bear in Paddington,
he's Q in the James Bond films, and he's been in Mary Poppins Returns.
Let's have a look.
- I'm so easily led, I'd go anywhere. - (laughter)
- Quite gullible? - Yeah, totally gullible,
and particularly because she's quite strict
and I think I'd probably want her to like me.
- Yes. (laughter) - So I'd just-,
It's like 'alright then, I'll go'.
I'd just agree with anything she said
and then end up in terrible trouble.
And also you've got Taron Egerton. He's really blowing up right now.
He was in Robin Hood,
he's just been in Rocketman, the Elton John biopic,
he's obviously the star of Kingsman
which is where he really blew up as an actor.
I think when you're acting, you only can bring what you have.
You're only ever revealing a part of you.
I always think it's weird when people say,
'Oh, you really became whoever.'
I sort of think that's not-, it's hard to describe what I mean.
I think you reveal a piece of yourself and what's interesting,
what's engaging, is watching someone express themselves,
whether it be through another role-,
but I always feel most interested, I think,
when someone's laying themselves bare.
We've also got Chris Pratt
who is infamously known from the Jurassic World movies,
as Star-Lord in Guardians of the Galaxy,
but also in The Lego Movie.
He's one of the nicest interviewees we've ever had here at Into Film,
although I've never personally got to meet him, which I wish I would have.
But anyway, let's have a look.
I was, like, into the outdoors, so I was always out in the woods.
I was fishing or catching crawdads in the creek, or wrestling my brother.
My brother and I wrestled for ten years
and no less than two hours a day,
just straight up living room, smashing through stuff,
wrestling hard. - Yeah, my boys do that now.
And obviously the reason that this whole video is taking place
is because of Lucas Hedges and his favourite actor,
Andrew Garfield, obviously star of The Amazing Spider-Man films,
star of Hacksaw Ridge, although I personally think
that his best role was probably in The Social Network.
So moving, Bill's script is so moving,
and it's very rare you read a film script that just kills you
and just makes you a blithering mess of a person
in a puddle of your own tears and snot,
and that's what happened to all of us.
And then we tried to just do that justice
and do the lives of Jonathan's parents justice.
Yeah, and it is, it's really-,
for me, it felt like a template of how to live.
What Robin and Diana did, somehow they made
such a joyous, inspired, fully-lived, rich life experience
out of terrible loss, and we all go through loss.
That's why I think it's such a universal story
and such an inspiring story for every person, no matter
where they come from or what their specific imprisonment or loss is.
It feels universal in that way.
So for me, I just read it and I was like 'I want to live like that'.
I want to live like how they lived, and maybe by doing it,
some of Robin and Diana and Jonathan will rub off.
It didn't, but I tried.
And of course, we have to include Tom Holland,
who everyone knows as the new Spider-Man
in the Marvel Cinematic Universe,
but you also might remember him as the little boy from The Impossible
or from In the Heart of the Sea.
I had, like, dreams about Mars bars and chocolate.
I love chocolate and especially Mars bars.
Obviously you've got Timothée Chalamet
although, I'm going to be honest with you,
I actually can't remember any of the films he's been in.
Johnny, come on.
Call Me by Your Name, Beautiful Boy, Lady Bird, Little Women.
Okay, I recognise the names of the films now.
Anyway, let's have a look.
And I like how you phrase it perfectly which is like,
you know, these social situations can act as pressure chambers
for young people, basically,
where a rite of passage to femininity or to masculinity
can be substance abuse or alcohol use or something.
And it's really confusing because-, it's just very confusing,
and assuredness.
Maybe I can talk into the lens like that, you don't have to do that.
Up next is Eddie Redmayne, who I adore
as Newt Scamander in the Fantastic Beasts series,
as well as Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything.
Take a look.
But also, there's that great quote which J.K. Rowling wrote for Newt
in the first film, which is that worrying means you suffer twice,
and I think that's quite a beautiful one.
It's like, what's the point of having all the fears?
If it's gonna happen, it's gonna happen.
There's not much you can do about it, so yeah.
We've had a lot of child stars grow up to become leading men,
so the star of Son of Rambow, then of course Maze Runner,
and now Detroit, the amazing Will Poulter.
I certainly haven't always felt secure in myself,
and I've borrowed from other characters' confidences
and certainties about who they are, and time in character
has allowed me to kind of explore myself a little bit better.
I do spend time in a character and I really enjoy
the, sort of, relief of anxiety or stress
that might have come from just being myself by being that character.
So when you do put that character to bed and leave them alone,
yeah, you know, sometimes you do miss them.
The breakout star of Crazy Rich Asians,
more recently in the comedy Last Christmas,
and potentially a new James Bond, Henry Golding.
- I've made rules in my life. - Me too.
So whenever I'm at dinner or breakfast or eating,
the phone goes away.
It's definitely not allowed on the table.
- That's a very good rule. - It never comes out,
we're never allowed to check it, and then you have
that moment where you can connect with people,
and that's what we're sort of resisting
or we're not finding ourselves doing.
Now we've got Daniel Kaluuya, star of Get Out and now Queen & Slim.
Me and Tish did a radio play on Radio 4 a couple of years ago,
so it's kind of really surreal going from, like, a room and mics
to, like, Wakanda. (laughter)
We had to lock eyes and go 'ooh, yo, we out here'.
So that was-, it's always amazing.
It's always amazing to just be able to do
the job that you dreamt of doing, you know,
so it was a very-, I learnt a lot.
It was a life-changing experience for me,
to be a part of this film and to be a part of this cast
with Ryan at the helm, it was amazing.
Now we've got Dev Patel, who most recently
has been in The Personal History of David Copperfield,
but also from classic movies such as Lion and Slumdog Millionaire.
The story of David Copperfield is essentially someone
embracing their past, embracing their hardships,
and I think every time, you know, he's beaten
or he's left homeless or his food's taken from him,
it makes him stronger.
He takes that and uses it as ammunition for his writing,
and I really believe that in life, it's kind of,
you learn more from the 'no's and the getting turned down
and the doors closed in your face than the easy route,
and this is about a man that really had it tough and rose to the top.
But that's just the tip of the iceberg.
There are loads more leading men
that we haven't even talked about in today's video.
We want to know what you think. Make sure you comment down below
who your favourite leading man is so we can get the discussion going
and maybe have a vote and fight. Not a fight.
- Fight? - (laughter)
We're gonna get all these leading men in a room, we're gonna fight.
No, no, have a debate. Yeah, debate is more civilised.